Straight answers on exterior care — what the grime actually costs, what the research actually says, and what done properly looks like. Sourced, not guessed.
Soiling — the film of dust, salt, pollen and bird mess on your panels — typically cuts solar output by about 5% a year, and up to 25% in the dirtiest locations, according to the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory. On a Sydney harbour-side roof, a scheduled clean usually pays for itself in recovered yield.
Read the articleA blocked gutter is a water problem, an insurance problem and a bushfire problem at once. Water damage makes up about 24% of Australian home insurance claims (QBE, average claim around $5,000), insurers can decline damage they judge poor maintenance caused, and CSIRO ties at least 85% of bushfire home losses to ember attack — which starts in leaf-filled gutters.
Read the articleMost of a Sydney home should be soft washed, not pressure washed. The manufacturers say so themselves: James Hardie warns high-pressure blasting can damage fibre cement, and BlueScope tells Colorbond owners to avoid abrasives and harsh washing. Save real pressure for the surfaces built to take it — concrete, pavers and stone underfoot.
Read the articleSydney exterior care runs on three clocks: thunderstorm season (September to March, per the Bureau of Meteorology), the statutory bushfire danger period (October to March), and the constant harbour salt — which is why BlueScope recommends washing sheltered Colorbond surfaces every three months in coastal areas. Gutters clear before October; solar and windows quarterly near the water; the full wash in spring.
Read the articleBlueScope — the maker of Colorbond — says it plainly: regular washing with clean fresh water enhances the service life of the coating, sheltered areas need washing every six months at minimum and every three months in coastal areas, and abrasive or solvent cleaning should never touch the surface. Moss and lichen make that maintenance urgent, because they hold moisture against the roof permanently.
Read the articleThe short version: a typical pressure-washing company brings one tool and uses it on everything. Schmick soft washes by default (the method cladding and roofing manufacturers actually recommend), documents every job with photographed before-and-after proof, and on the Plan sends the same operator back each visit. You pay for a finish, not a visit.
Read the articleSydney sandstone crumbles because of salt attack: salts from sea spray and rising damp are drawn into the stone, then crystallise as it dries, breaking the surface apart from the inside. The Heritage Council of NSW’s technical guidance is clear that managing moisture and salt is the core of caring for older masonry — and that harsh cleaning makes it worse.
Read the articleBefore a sale, clean the exterior in this order: driveway and paths first (they anchor the street view and the photos), then the facade, then windows and gutters in the final week before photography. Book two to three weeks before the shoot. Buyers meet the outside of your home twice — in the listing photos and at the kerb — before they ever see a room.
Read the articleIn Sydney, professional window cleaning starts around $150, gutter cleaning around $180, a house soft wash around $300, and driveway pressure cleaning around $180. Most single-storey jobs land in the $150–$960 range depending on the service and the size of the home; two storeys add 40–50% for access, and bundling services on one visit saves 5–15%. These are Schmick’s actual prices — the same numbers our instant-quote calculator uses.
Read the articleWindow cleaning in Sydney starts from $150. Most single-storey homes land between $150 and $550, priced by window count; a second storey adds about 40%. Tracks, screens and access move the number — the suburb does not. Those are Schmick's published prices: the instant quote turns your address into a firm, bookable figure in about 60 seconds, no site visit.
Read the articleGutter cleaning in Sydney starts from $180. Most single-storey homes land between $220 and $430, priced by gutter length; a second storey adds roughly 50% for the extra access work. Heavy tree cover pushes a job toward the top of the range. Skipping it has its own price: insurers can decline water-damage claims caused by blocked gutters.
Read the articleA house soft wash in Sydney starts at $300. Most single-storey homes land between $420 and $960, priced by wall area, and a second storey adds about 40%. The bigger variable is method: soft washing cleans render, paint and cladding without damage, where high pressure can cost you more than the wash saved. Schmick's instant quote turns those ranges into a firm price.
Read the articleDriveway pressure cleaning in Sydney starts at $180 with Schmick, and most driveways land between $180 and $420, priced by area. Surface type and oil pre-treatment move the number — a long exposed-aggregate run with engine stains costs more than a short concrete pad. Sealing is a set add-on that stretches the time between cleans. The instant quote turns your details into a firm, bookable price in about 60 seconds.
Read the articleRoof cleaning in Sydney is quoted per roof, not off a rate card. Four things set the price: roof size, pitch, how deep the growth runs, and access. A low Colorbond roof with light soiling sits at the bottom of the range; a steep, moss-thick tile roof sits well above it. Schmick's instant quote turns those four factors into a firm, bookable price in about 60 seconds.
Read the articleSolar panel cleaning in Sydney is priced per job — panel count, roof pitch and access set the number, so a six-panel bungalow and a thirty-panel two-storey pay very different amounts. Schmick's instant quote returns a firm, bookable price in about 60 seconds. The maths favours cleaning: NREL puts typical soiling loss at about 5% of annual output, up to 25% in the dirtiest locations.
Read the articleSandstone cleaning in Sydney is priced per job, not off a square-metre rate card. The number turns on four things: the age of the stone, how deep the lichen has gone, the run of wall, and whether you add a breathable seal. Schmick's instant quote reads those inputs and returns a firm, bookable price in about 60 seconds.
Read the articleFence and gate cleaning in Sydney is priced per boundary: the metres you own, the material — timber, Colorbond or rendered masonry — how much growth the shade side is carrying, and whether timber gets a re-oil afterwards. Schmick quotes fence work per job; the instant quote returns a firm, bookable price in about 60 seconds, and bundling it with other services saves 5-15%.
Read the articleThe green on south-facing render is algae — a living organism rooted in the render's pores, fed by shade and damp that a south wall never fully sheds. Pressure washing etches the surface and spreads the spores; a soft wash kills the growth at the root. Schmick house soft washes start at $300, with most single-storey homes landing between $420 and $960.
Read the articleBlack streaks on roof tiles are biological growth — an algal film, mould and lichen colonising the overlaps where tiles hold moisture longest. They are not dirt, and they do not rinse off. Left alone, the film keeps water pressed against the surface and spreads season on season. The fix is a soft-wash treatment that kills the growth at the root and keeps working after the visit.
Read the articleA problem — a slow, quiet one. Moss holds water like a sponge and wicks it into the laps and valleys where tiles overlap, exactly where a roof is supposed to stay dry. As it grows it lifts fragments that wash into your gutters and block them. The fix is chemical, not mechanical: kill the growth at the root and let weather carry it off. Never pressure-blast a tiled roof.
Read the articleThe dulling film on your windows is marine aerosol — salt spray carried inland on onshore winds and dried onto the glass. You won't see it building; you'll see it at four in the afternoon when the sun goes low. Purified water and a squeegee take it off completely. Near the water, it rebuilds fast enough that two to three cleans a year keeps glass properly clear.
Read the articleCloudy glass after a clean is one of three things: mineral or metal-oxide film, which the right treatment removes; etching, where salt or hard water has permanently marked the glass; or fog between double-glazed panes, which means the seal has failed and no cleaner can reach it. A proper clean fixes the first, softens the second, and can only diagnose the third.
Read the articleAn overflowing gutter has three causes, and rain diagnoses it in ten minutes. Overflow at one spot mid-run: blocked gutter. Overflow at a corner while the downpipe outlet runs dry: blocked downpipe. The whole edge sheeting over only in heavy downpours: undersized guttering. The first two are cleaning jobs — and they matter, because water damage is about 24% of Australian home insurance claims, according to QBE.
Read the articlePlants grow in gutters when leaf litter self-composts into a soil bed — which means that stretch of gutter has not drained properly for at least a season, usually longer. The fix is a full hand clear and a downpipe flush, not a leaf blower. Schmick gutter cleaning starts at $180; most single-storey homes land between $220 and $430 by gutter length.
Read the articleThose black stripes are road film — exhaust and brake-dust particulates plus leaf tannins — electrostatically bonded to the paint where water sheets over the drip edge. Rain deposits them; it cannot remove them. Shifting them takes detergent, soft agitation and a fresh-water rinse. Schmick does it as part of a gutter clean: from $180, with most single-storey homes landing between $220 and $430.
Read the articleFresh oil comes out. Spilled this month, pre-treated with a degreaser and lifted with hot-water pressure, it usually disappears. Oil that has sat for years has soaked into the concrete itself — that shadow fades to match the slab, but it will not vanish. A proper clean means pre-treat, hot pressure, then a rotary surface cleaner for an even finish. Most Sydney driveways run $180-$420.
Read the articleThe green film on your driveway is algae, and it grows where concrete stays damp — the shaded side, under the tree canopy, wherever the sun never quite reaches. It is slippery when wet and it will not scrub off with a broom. A proper pressure clean removes it; most Sydney driveways run $180-$420, and a seal afterwards slows the regrowth.
Read the articleMoss and algae on shaded paving are a genuine slip hazard in winter — wet, green and often near-invisible until you're standing on them. The fix is a proper pressure clean followed by a treatment that slows regrowth. Schmick cleans paths and driveways from $180, with most jobs landing between $180 and $420 by area, priced firm through the instant quote.
Read the articleYes — an old concrete driveway cleans up. The grey is not the concrete; it is a film of diesel soot, tyre dust and algae laid down so slowly you never saw it happen. A rotary surface cleaner strips it back to the poured colour in a morning, without wand stripes. Most Sydney driveways run $180-$420; the job starts from $180.
Read the articleBefore you call the installer, work the list in order: compare your monitoring app against the same month last year, rule out new shading, check the inverter for fault codes — then look at the glass. Soiling typically costs about 5% of annual output, up to 25% in the dirtiest locations, according to NREL, and it is the cheapest fault on the list to fix.
Read the articleWorse than the mess suggests. A dropping casts hard shade: one blocked cell can drag down its whole string and run hot. NREL puts typical soiling loss at about 5% of annual output, up to 25% in the dirtiest locations — and baked droppings sit at the bad end, because rain will not shift them.
Read the articleGrey timber is not dying — the sun has broken down the lignin in the top fraction of a millimetre, leaving a layer of dead grey surface fibres. A proper wash strips that layer and brings the fence's real colour back. A re-oil afterwards holds it. Washing cannot fix rot or splits; it just tells you honestly which one you have.
Read the articleGreen growth favours one face because that face barely sees the sun. In Sydney, south-facing and tree-shaded fence panels stay damp long after rain, and algae and mould need only moisture and shade. The fix depends on the material: timber wants a low-pressure soft wash, while BlueScope's TB-4 bulletin calls for gentle fresh-water washing on Colorbond — never a harsh blast.
Read the articleThe black on Sydney sandstone is a living crust — lichen and algae rooted in the stone's soft grain, bound up with a film of traffic carbon. Do not blast it: the NSW Heritage salt-attack guide warns that abrasive cleaning opens sandstone's pores and accelerates decay. The safe method is a low-pressure soft wash that kills the growth and lifts it out, then leaves the stone breathable — no sealers.
Read the articleThat white powder is chalking — the paint's binder broken down by UV, leaving loose pigment on the surface. It is worst on unshaded, sun-facing coastal walls. A soft wash removes the chalk and grime without stripping what is left — most single-storey washes run $420-$960 — but if the powder returns thick within months, the coating is finished and it is a repaint conversation, not a cleaning one.
Read the articleMould grows on eaves because they are the one strip of your exterior rain never washes — sheltered, shaded and still, they become a spore bed. The fix is a gentle low-pressure wash, which is what James Hardie's maintenance bulletin specifies for fibre-cement. Schmick cleans eaves as part of the house soft wash, from $300 — most single-storey washes run $420 to $960.
Read the articleCobwebs outside the house come off with the wash. A house soft wash clears webs from eaves, light fittings, door frames and gutter lines as part of the clean — from $300, with most single-storey homes landing between $420 and $960. Spiders rebuild near outdoor lights within weeks, so a regular cadence beats a one-off. We remove webs; we don't fumigate.
Read the articleLeaf stains on concrete are tannin — a dye leached from wet leaves, not dirt sitting on top. Fresh stains lift clean with an alkaline pre-treatment and a controlled pressure wash. Older stains fade to match the surrounding slab rather than vanish. Schmick's driveway cleaning starts at $180; most Sydney driveways land between $180 and $420 by area.
Read the articleRust stains on concrete come from three places: metal furniture feet, iron-rich lawn fertiliser, and reinforcing steel bleeding from inside the slab. The first two shift with a specialist rust pre-treatment before the pressure clean — pressure alone won't do it. Reo bleed can be lightened, not cured, because the source sits inside the concrete. Most Sydney driveway cleans run $180–$420.
Read the articleSliding door tracks fill with grit, salt and insect debris, and the rollers grind through it until the door drags. The fix is simple: vacuum the track, brush out the corners, wipe the channel clean. At Schmick that is part of every standard window clean — tracks, sills and flyscreens included — not an extra. Window cleaning starts at $150; most single-storey homes land between $150 and $550.
Read the articleGet the nests out before the storms arrive. The Bureau of Meteorology puts NSW severe thunderstorm season across the warm months, roughly September to March — and a nest parks debris exactly where your gutter drains, at the outlet. Wait until any chicks have fledged, then clear the whole run properly. Schmick gutter cleaning starts at $180, with most single-storey homes landing between $220 and $430.
Read the articleWaterfront Sydney homes need window cleaning two to three times a year. A street or two back from the water, twice. Inland, once or twice. Salt drives the schedule, not visible dirt — the film rebuilds on glass long before the panes look grubby. Schmick window cleans start at $150; most single-storey homes run $150-$550 by window count.
Read the articleTwice a year for most Sydney homes. Once in late winter, before the Bureau of Meteorology's severe thunderstorm season arrives with the warm months — roughly September to March — and once after the autumn leaf drop. Under heavy tree canopy, make it three. And in bushfire-prone areas, the NSW RFS wants gutters cleared before the danger period starts in October.
Read the articleEvery one to two years for most Sydney homes. That is not a cleaner's upsell — James Hardie's maintenance bulletin specifies gentle washing for fibre-cement cladding, and BlueScope's TB-4 requires regular fresh-water washing of Colorbond, more often near marine environments. Salt air, rendered walls and shaded southern faces all shorten the interval. Most single-storey soft washes run $420–$960.
Read the articleEvery two to four years for most Sydney roofs. Heavily shaded, tree-covered or coastal roofs sit at the two-year end; open, sunny roofs stretch toward four. Because a proper soft-wash treatment keeps suppressing regrowth for seasons after the visit, the interval usually lengthens after your first clean. The tell-tale signs you are due: moss in the valleys, and darkening on the south face.
Read the articleQuarterly for homes near the harbour or coast, six-monthly for inland Sydney. Salt haze rebuilds the film on coastal glass within months; inland roofs with regular rain can stretch the interval to six. The stakes are measurable: the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory puts typical soiling loss at about 5% of annual output — up to 25% in the dirtiest locations.
Read the articleDIY window cleaning is worth it at ground level — a decent squeegee and ten minutes of technique will get you clean glass. The gap is everything else: purified water, second-storey height, tracks and screens, and a full Saturday. Professional window cleaning starts at $150; most single-storey homes run $150-$550 by window count, and two storeys adds about 40%.
Read the articleSingle-storey gutters, a solid ladder, dry level ground and someone footing the base — that job is defensible. Two-storey gutters are not: the fall height turns a small slip into an emergency-department visit. Professional gutter cleaning starts at $180, with most single-storey homes landing between $220 and $430 and two storeys adding around 50%. If your gutters are high, book it out.
Read the articleBecause the savings do not survive contact with the surface. Wet tile sheds grip without warning, older fibre-cement and brittle sheets will not reliably hold a person, and the chemistry that actually kills moss is not the pressure washer from the hire shop. Proper roof cleaning is an access-and-chemistry job — which is why Schmick quotes it per job, priced firm in about 60 seconds.
Read the articleNo. Acrylic render is a thin decorative skin, and a pressure washer etches it, drives water into the wall behind it and sprays mould spores across the surface instead of killing them. The right method is a soft wash — low pressure, the right chemistry — which starts at $300 for a Sydney home and leaves the render intact.
Read the articleYou can, but you shouldn't. High pressure strips the fired surface off terracotta and the coloured slurry coat off concrete tiles, ages the roof by years in an afternoon, spreads moss spores, and forces water under the laps. Soft washing kills growth at the root instead. Schmick quotes roof cleaning per job — the instant quote returns a firm, bookable price in about 60 seconds.
Read the articleNo. Sydney sandstone is soft — a hire-shop pressure washer cuts channels and scars into the surface that never heal. The NSW Heritage salt-attack guide warns against harsh treatment of salt-affected stone, and against sealing it afterwards. The right approach is a soft wash: low pressure, the correct chemistry, and a finish that leaves the stone able to breathe. Cleaned, not carved.
Read the articleYes — wash the house before the painter arrives. Paint bonds to whatever sits on the wall, and after a few Sydney years that is chalk, salt film and mould — a substrate no coat will hold to. Painters quote assuming a clean wall. A soft wash runs from $300, most single-storey homes $420-$960, done about a week before the first coat.
Read the articleA plan is worth it when your exterior needs attention more than once a year. The Schmick Plan runs $89, $179 or $329 a month, bundling services on one visit saves 5–15% over booking them separately, and the same operator turns up with a condition report every time. If you genuinely need one clean — pre-sale, post-build — a one-off is the right call.
Read the articleClear your gutters and flush every downpipe before October. The Bureau of Meteorology puts NSW severe thunderstorm season across the warm months, roughly September to March, and water damage accounts for around 24% of Australian home insurance claims according to QBE. A gutter that overflows in the first big cell soaks the ceiling — and insurers can decline claims they blame on blocked gutters.
Read the articleEmbers, not the fire front, destroy most homes — CSIRO puts it at roughly 85-90% of houses lost in bushfires. A gutter full of dry leaves is a firebed bolted to your roofline. The NSW RFS lists clearing gutters as core property preparation, and the statutory danger period runs October to March. Gutter cleaning starts at $180; most single-storey homes land between $220 and $430.
Read the articleA Sydney exterior spring clean is three jobs on one visit: windows and render washed free of the pollen and wattle-dust film, and gutters cleared before storm season — which the Bureau of Meteorology puts across the warm months, roughly September to March. Bundle them and the price drops 5–15%. Most single-storey homes land at $150–$550 for windows, $220–$430 for gutters and $420–$960 for the wash.
Read the articleBecause in winter the sun tracks low across Sydney's northern sky and a south-facing wall sits in shade from June to August. It never fully dries, so mould and algae treat those three damp months as a growth window. An August soft wash — $420–$960 for most single-storey homes — clears the growth so spring starts clean.
Read the articleApril is when Sydney's deciduous street trees — planes, liquidambars, maples — let go, and gutters under canopy fill within weeks. The response is two clears: one in May, before winter rain settles on the compacted leaf mat, and a second before storm season, which the Bureau of Meteorology puts roughly September to March. Gutter cleaning starts at $180; most single-storey homes run $220-$430.
Read the articleMost Sydney driveways want a wash every 12 to 18 months. Shaded, tree-lined or damp harbour-side drives go sooner — 6 to 12 months — because algae and lichen return fast in the wet. Sealing stretches the interval. Schmick driveway and path cleaning starts at $180, with most driveways landing between $180 and $420 by area.
Read the articleMost Sydney sandstone wants a gentle wash every one to three years. Shaded, south-facing or salt-exposed stone — near the coast, a pool, or under trees — sits at the one-year end; dry, sunny, sheltered stone can wait three. Leave it longer and lichen roots deeper and gets harder to lift. Gentle only: the NSW Heritage salt-attack guide warns aggressive cleaning drives salts in and spalls the stone.
Read the articleWash a fence once a year. Timber wants re-oiling every one to two years — sooner on a sun-hit western run, later in shade. Colorbond and coated steel need only a regular fresh-water wash, never oil. The shade side, where moss and mould gather first, sets your real cadence. Homes near the coast wash more often.
Read the articleFor a ground-floor rinse of cobwebs and dirt you can reach, DIY is fine. For the actual wash — render, cladding, anything above head height — hire a pro. A hire-shop pressure washer forces water behind cladding and etches render; James Hardie specifies low pressure and a soft brush, not high pressure. Schmick soft-washes from $300.
Read the articleCleaning solar panels yourself is fine on a single-storey roof if you use pure water and no pressure. NREL puts typical soiling loss at about 5% of annual output, up to 25% in dirty spots — that lost yield is the payback. The catch is height, live electrics, and a fragile anti-reflective coating that tap water scale quietly ruins.
Read the articleA hire lance and a weekend get you zebra stripes and a pitted surface. A pro runs a flat surface cleaner for one even pass, pre-treats the oil, and finishes in a fraction of the time. Schmick driveway cleaning starts at $180, and most driveways land between $180 and $420 — often near what the hire alone costs, minus the lost Saturday.
Read the articleNo. Don't pressure wash solar panels. The jet cracks the cells and strips the anti-reflective coating, and most manufacturers void the warranty if you do. The correct method is a soft brush with deionised water. Cleaning still matters, though — NREL research puts typical soiling loss around 5% of annual output, and up to 25% in the dirtiest locations.
Read the articleNo. Don't pressure wash windows. The force breaches the seals around the glass, drives water into frames and tracks, and can crack the pane outright. The professional method is a water-fed pole running pure water — it lifts the grime and dries spot-free, with the tracks finished by hand. Schmick window cleaning starts at $150.
Read the articleNo — not with high pressure. James Hardie's maintenance bulletin is explicit: clean fibre-cement cladding with low pressure and a soft brush, never a high-pressure jet. High pressure can damage the board and drive water behind it. A soft wash cleans and kills mould at the root without the risk, and keeps the warranty method intact.
Read the articleNo — not with high pressure. BlueScope's TB-4 bulletin says to wash Colorbond with fresh water and a soft brush or cloth, avoiding abrasives and hard blasting that scratch the coating. A high-pressure lance can drive water behind flashings and mark the finish. Gentle, regular washing — more often near the coast — beats one hard blast.
Read the articleYes — when it's done right. Soft washing is the standard method for painted render, fibre-cement and Colorbond precisely because it's gentle. A careful crew pre-wets your garden beds, dilutes the mix correctly, covers sensitive plants and rinses everything down afterwards. The bigger risk to a garden isn't the wash. It's high-pressure blasting shredding foliage and eroding soil.
Read the articleSometimes. Roof cleaning is worth it when moss and lichen are holding moisture against tiles and lifting them, or streaking coated steel like Colorbond — that's growth doing damage, not just looking bad. Where the roof is simply dark or dusty, it's cosmetic. A soft wash also keeps working after the visit, killing the spores a rinse leaves behind.
Read the articlePartly. Gutter guard cuts the leaf load and how often you climb up, but it does not end maintenance. Fine debris, seed and grit still wash through and settle, and some mesh traps moisture against the gutter. Insurers still expect upkeep — Suncorp can decline a water-damage claim caused by blocked gutters. Clean and inspect regardless.
Read the articleSeal it if the surface is porous and you want the clean to last — concrete, pavers and exposed aggregate all drink up oil and algae once the pores are open. Sealing after a wash resists staining and stretches the interval between cleans. Not every driveway needs it. Schmick pressure cleans driveways from $180, and sealing is offered as a set add-on, not a hidden line.
Read the articleBook by early November. December fills fast — the whole street wants the same fortnight before guests arrive, so the last free slots go first. Prioritise the three surfaces visitors actually read: the entry, the glass and the paths. A house soft wash starts at $300, and Plan members are already on the route and skip the queue.
Read the articleThat haze isn't streaks. Spring pollen and airborne harbour salt bond into a thin, even film that grips the glass and cuts the light coming through — domestic cloths and spray just smear it around. A pure-water clean lifts it properly. Window cleaning starts at $150, and homes near the water need it far more often than inland streets.
Read the articleYes, but it's risky. High pressure strips the jointing sand from the gaps, pits the surface and exposes the aggregate beneath — permanent, and it looks worse after the first rain. If you must do it yourself, cap the machine at 1500 PSI, use a wide fan nozzle, and never a 0-degree jet. Better still, run a flat surface cleaner and re-sand the joints.
Read the articleIt depends on where the array sits. The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory puts typical soiling loss near 5% of annual output, and up to 25% in dirty, low-rain spots. Near the harbour, bird droppings and a bonded salt film block light and never rinse off in rain — those panels pay back. A flat, rain-washed inland array gains little.
Read the articleTerracotta and cement roofs need a soft wash, not a pressure blast. Low-pressure cleaning lifts moss and lichen from the tile laps, then a biocide keeps killing spores for months. High pressure strips the glaze and cracks ridge caps. Schmick quotes each roof by size, pitch, growth depth and access — a firm price in about 60 seconds.
Read the articleLichen is not moss. It is a fungus and an alga living as one crust, and it anchors into the tile with rhizines — root-like threads that work into the glaze and hold water against the surface. Scraping chips that glaze and high pressure strips it. A soft wash with proper dwell time kills the organism, and weather carries the dead crust off over the following months.
Read the articleThe white bloom on brickwork is almost always efflorescence — soluble salts carried out of the masonry by moisture and left behind when the water evaporates. It is crystalline and powdery, not slimy, so it is not mould. Washing removes the deposit; only fixing the water source stops it returning. Schmick house soft washes start at $300.
Read the articleAlmost always irrigation. Sprinkler overspray and run-off from render or limestone dry on the glass and leave dissolved minerals behind, cycle after cycle, until the deposit bonds. While it is still a deposit, the right treatment takes it off — Schmick window cleans start at $150. Once it has etched the glass, no clean brings it back. Move the sprinkler head first.
Read the articleWeeds root in the joint sand between pavers, not the sub-base beneath them. Pressure cleaning blasts that sand out along with the weeds, leaving open joints that reseed within a season. The fix is re-sanding straight after the clean — plain kiln-dried sand, or polymeric if you want longer. Schmick cleans driveways and paths from $180, most $180-$420 by area.
Read the articleMost rust on a Colorbond fence is not the sheet failing. It is transfer staining — swarf from drilling, a steel tool left leaning, run-off from an unpainted fixing — sitting on top of the coating, and it washes off. BlueScope's TB-4 asks for regular fresh-water washing, more often near the coast. Once the coating is breached and the steel edge has gone, cleaning is cosmetic.
Read the articleWhite powder on your finger is oxidation — the anodised or powder-coat surface breaking down under UV and salt, not dirt sitting on top of it. A clean removes the loose chalk, takes the salt off, and slows the next round. It does not restore the finish. Once the coating has failed through, only a re-coat brings the colour back.
Read the articleGlass pool fences cloud because chlorine splash, sunscreen, salt air and sprinkler minerals dry on the panel and bond to it. Wash both faces plus the stainless spigots every two to three months through the swim season, before the deposits harden. Left a full summer, hard water spotting can etch the glass permanently, and no clean reverses etching. Fence work is quoted per job.
Read the articleRust means one of two things. Surface staining and flaking on a sound trough is cosmetic — clear the wet leaf litter holding moisture against the steel and it stops progressing. Pinholes, weeping joins or daylight through the back edge is a roof plumber's job, not a cleaner's. Schmick gutter cleaning starts at $180; we clean, photograph and tell you honestly which one you have.
Read the articleLichen isn't sitting on your sandstone — it's anchored into it. Rhizines work between the grains and the colony holds moisture against porous stone through every wet-dry cycle. On a heritage wall the patina argument is fair. On steps it's a slip hazard. The fix is low pressure, correct chemistry and patience — never blasting or sealing, both of which the NSW Heritage salt-attack guide warns against.
Read the articleWash them off within days, not months. Droppings are acidic: left to bake on a Sydney balcony they etch powder-coated railings, stain sandstone copings and pit render, and that damage is permanent. Never dry scrape it — that aerosolises the mess. Wet the deposit down, let it soften, then flush it away with low pressure and clean water.
Read the articleUsually not. A house soft wash happens entirely outside, so what we need is side access, an outdoor tap and a power point — not you. Leave the side gate unlocked, pets indoors, windows shut and cars off the driveway, and the job runs without you. You get photos and a written report, and the quoted price doesn't move.
Read the articleA single-storey soft wash takes most of a morning. Two storeys usually take most of a day. Heavy moss, tight side access and delicate landscaping push it longer. Much of that time is dwell — the solution sitting on the wall doing the work, not idle crew. Schmick's house soft wash starts at $300, with most single-storey homes landing between $420 and $960.
Read the article{"slug":"how-to-prepare-for-window-cleaning","title":"How to prepare for a window clean: five minutes of work","seoTitle":"How to Prepare for Window Cleaning | Schmick Journal","metaDescription":"Five minutes: clear sills and shutter tracks, unlock security screens, pets inside, flag cracked panes. We bring water, power and poles. From $150.","readMinutes":5,"imageAlt":"A Schmick technician working the glass on a Sydney home, the sills and tracks below already cleared for the clean.","answer":"Five minutes. Clear the sills and the plantation-shutter tracks, move fragile things off the inside ledge, unlock any security screens and put the pets inside. Tell us about cracked panes or fogged double glazing before we start. That is the whole list — we bring our own filtered water, poles and power. Window cleaning starts at $150; most single-storey homes land between $150 and $550.","sections":[{"h2":"Clear ledges are the entire ask","paras":["Start with the sills. Photo frames, candles, the orchid, the bowl of keys, the kids' school art — anything sitting on an inside ledge goes somewhere else for the morning. We work those ledges with wet cloths and a squeegee, and nobody wants a technician deciding where your grandmother's vase should live while the water is running. Two minutes of moving things is faster than the careful shuffling we would otherwise do around them, and it removes the only real risk in the job.","Plantation shutters are the other one. Open the louvres and fold the panels back so the glass and the shutter track are both reachable. Same for heavy curtains — hook them aside. Outside, pull the pot plants and the outdoor chairs back from under the windows and coil the hose out of the walkway. None of this is compulsory. It just turns a clean where we are constantly stepping over things into one that runs straight through, which is the version you want."]},{"h2":"A locked security screen stops the whole visit","paras":["Security screens are the single most common reason a window gets skipped. If the screen is locked and nobody has the key, the glass behind it stays dirty and we both find out on the day. Unlock them the morning of the visit, or leave the keys somewhere we can find them. Same with the side gate — a padlocked gate on the harbour side of the house means half the exterior never gets touched, and that is a poor use of everyone's morning.","Pets inside, please. Dogs treat an open sliding door and a stranger with a long pole as an event, and cats find the one gap in the flyscreen we have just taken off. Put them in a closed room and let us know which one so we do not open it. If we are doing interiors, an adult should be home or an access arrangement sorted beforehand. Exteriors we can do without you there, provided the gates open and the screens are not bolted shut."]},{"h2":"We bring our own water, power and poles","paras":["You do not need to leave a tap running or an extension lead out the window. We arrive with water-fed poles and our own filtered water, carried on the vehicle. Filtered water is the point of the system: with the minerals stripped out, the glass dries without the spotting that ordinary tap water leaves behind, so nothing needs to be chased with a chamois. The poles reach upper-storey glass from the ground, which keeps ladders off your garden beds and out of your gutters.","We do not assume your utilities. If a job genuinely needs a tap — a large property, a long day — we ask first rather than helping ourselves. Strata and apartment addresses are the same courtesy: we sort access and any building requirements with you before the day, not in the driveway at 8am. The short version is that our setup is self-contained, and the only thing we need from the house is a way in and a way around."]},{"h2":"We photograph the damage before we touch it","paras":["Tell us about the cracked pane in the laundry, the chipped corner on the bedroom window, the flyscreen frame that has already rusted through. Then we walk the property and photograph what we find before a single squeegee comes out. This is not suspicion, it is bookkeeping. Glass that is already stressed can fail under nothing more than a change in temperature, and a photo taken at 8:03am settles the question of what was there when we arrived without either of us having to rely on memory.","It also lets us be honest about what a clean cannot fix. Fogged double glazing is a failed seal with moisture trapped between the panes — no cleaner reaches that space, and the only real repair is a new unit. Deep scratches and salt-etched glass are damage to the surface itself, not dirt sitting on it, so they will look better and still be there. We would rather say that on the doorstep than let you find out when the water dries."]},{"h2":"The price is settled before anyone arrives","paras":["Window cleaning starts at $150. Most single-storey homes land between $150 and $550 depending on how many windows there are, and a second storey adds roughly 40 per cent for the extra reach and time. Tracks, sills and screens are decided in the quote, not sprung on you at the end of the job — you know what is in the number before we knock, and the invoice matches it. Bundling another service onto the same visit saves 5 to 15 per cent, if the gutters are due anyway.","If you want your exact figure, the instant quote returns a firm, bookable price in about 60 seconds, and it holds unless the place turns out to be materially different from what you described. Count your windows, answer a few questions, pick a slot. Then do the five minutes: ledges cleared, shutters folded back, screens unlocked, dog in the study. We will handle the rest, and you can go back to whatever you were doing."]}],"sources":[{"name":"Schmick instant-quote engine — live price book (get your exact number)","url":"https://getschmick.com/#quote"}],"related":[{"label":"Window cleaning — what's included","to":"/services/windows"},{"label":"What window cleaning costs in Sydney","to":"/journal/window-cleaning-cost-sydney"},{"label":"How often windows actually need doing","to":"/journal/how-often-window-cleaning"}]}
Read the articleDivert or disconnect the tank inlet before any product touches the roof — not after. Wash, rinse thoroughly, then leave the tank isolated until the first decent rain has flushed the roof, and reconnect after that. A first-flush diverter helps but is not a substitute for isolating. If the tank feeds anything indoors, tell us before the day. Ten minutes at the downpipe saves draining a full tank.
Read the articleYes. Bring pets inside for the visit, along with their bowls, bedding and toys, and keep them in until the washed surfaces are rinsed and dry — usually an hour or so. The reason isn't an exotic mix. It's that animals lick their paws and drink from puddles. Chickens, ponds and fish get the same isolation as a garden bed. Dry is the all-clear.
Read the articleClean if the tile or sheet is still sound and the problem is moss, lichen and grime — that's most Sydney roofs. Paint only when the surface itself has failed: porous concrete, spalling terracotta or a chalked-out coating. Either way the roof gets washed first, because every coating system requires a clean substrate. Schmick cleans; we don't paint.
Read the articleUsually not. Sealing sandstone traps moisture and salt behind the face; when those salts crystallise they push the damage a few millimetres deeper and the surface eventually spalls off in plates. The NSW Heritage salt-attack guide explicitly warns against sealing affected stone. A breathable treatment is defensible on dry, salt-free paving. On walls, retaining and anything coastal, clean it properly and leave it breathing.
Read the articleNeither replaces the other. Guard cuts how often you clean; it never ends it. Fine debris composts on top of the mesh, and the roof valleys the guard does not cover still fill. Schmick gutter cleaning starts at $180, with most single-storey homes landing $220-$430. Guard earns its keep on heavy native canopy, two-storey access and bushfire-interface blocks. Everyone else is better off cleaning more often.
Read the articleCleaning itself doesn't void a solar warranty — method does. Abrasives, harsh chemicals, walking on the modules and high-pressure water driven into the frame seals are what give a manufacturer grounds to decline. Deionised water and a soft brush is the accepted standard. And it is worth doing: NREL puts typical soiling loss at about 5% of annual output, up to 25% in the dirtiest locations.
Read the articleNo — not if the method is right. High pressure strips paint; a soft wash does not. Soft washing works on chemistry and dwell time at roughly garden-hose pressure, so nothing mechanical touches the coating. James Hardie's maintenance bulletin specifies gentle washing for fibre-cement cladding, not high pressure. Sound paint survives it. Paint that was already failing was already gone.
Read the articleWalk a ten-minute lap of the house from the ground — no ladder, no roof. Look for overflow streaks on the fascia, leaf dams in the gutters, downpipe outlets that ran or did not, debris on paths and solar, staining under the eaves, blocked drains. Photograph everything before you tidy it. Then book the clear-out before the next front, not after.
Read the articleAirborne salt lands on everything within a few streets of the water. It hazes glass, chalks paint and frames, tea-stains stainless and drives decay into sandstone. The remedy is dull and effective: fresh-water rinsing on a schedule, two to three times a year near the coast, concentrating on the surfaces rain never reaches. BlueScope's TB-4 requires exactly that for coated steel in marine environments.
Read the articleA second storey adds about 40% to window cleaning, about 50% to gutter cleaning and about 40% to a house soft wash. Those loadings buy time and safety, not altitude: water-fed poles, longer set-ups, ladder and harness work, slower movement over gardens and rooflines. Your suburb does not change the number. A steep block often does.
Read the articleBundling services onto one visit saves 5–15% against booking them one at a time, because you pay for one set-up, one travel leg and one access arrangement instead of three. The natural pairs: house wash with windows, gutters with roof, driveway with fence, solar while the roof crew is already up there. Order matters — glass goes last.
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